In genealogy, we are always searching for that next ancestor to find the dates of birth and death for our records. Occasionally we will find out what they did for a living and if they were an immigrant ancestor a little about their birth country. What we miss many times is how they lived and the culture that they passed on to the next generation. This culture may include cooking, the types of clothes we wear and especially their entertainment such as dancing.
Many of us have seen Irish dancing before, but have you ever seen "Sean-Nos" dancing let alone try it yourself. "Sean-Nos" is Gaelic for "old style" dancing. Brian Cunningham who arrived in the U.S. 6 years ago from County Galway and has since settled in Wisconsin, has started teaching this style of Gaelic dancing and has a series of classes for the next 8 Monday's at Heritage Hill in Green Bay.
Brian says that anyone can do this form of Irish dancing and you don't have to even know how to dance to accomplish this ancient Irish tradition. Brian has been dancing since he was 4 years old and was taught by his parents and other family members who were taught by the generation before them.
Brian says he didn't realize how many Irish Americans there are in Wisconsin and how excited many of them are in learning this Gaelic dance. So if you want to learn more and even try it yourself, stop by Heritage Hill on Monday evenings between 7 and 9 and find out just how much fun Irish dancing might actually be.
Brian continues teaching "Sean-Nos" dancing so if you can't make this time around, he will be teaching other classes later on. You can find out more by on Brian Cunningham's Irish Dance classes by going to his website www.cunninghamirishdance.com or contacting him at CunninghamIrishdance@gmail.com.